Springfield releases 2024 risk report: fewer claims overall but a few costly events pushed up incurred costs

Jamie Eboa, the city risk manager for Springfield, presented the city’s 2024 risk report at the council work session, describing a five‑year analysis (fiscal years 2020–2024) of claims and insurance experience across departments. "It's based on fiscal years," she said, and the report is intended to help the organization identify where risks remain and what is working.

Eboa highlighted a long‑term downward trend in the number of general liability claims and said the fire department had no general liability claims for three consecutive fiscal years. She credited the adoption of enterprise risk management and leadership support for much of that progress. "Enterprise risk management is looking to the future," Eboa said, and early prevention work, she added, helped reduce claims exposure.

The presentation noted, however, that a small number of costly claims and litigated cases drove spikes in total incurred costs in some years. Eboa said one litigated case from FY21 later closed and reduced the city’s reserved liabilities by about $200,000. She also said auto liability costs for FY24 were dominated by ice‑storm incidents — three separate events including a police vehicle rear‑end, a fire truck sliding off the road and a bucket contacting utility wires — accounting for roughly 80–88% of that category's incurred costs in FY24.

Eboa explained technical terms such as "total incurred" (amounts paid plus reserves for open claims) and described how the workers'‑comp experience modifier affects premiums. She said Springfield's experience modifier is below 1.0, which reduces workers'‑comp premiums. The city has used the state's employer‑at‑injury program and related wage subsidies to offset costs; Eboa reported the subsidy returned about $243,000 over five fiscal years and that those funds are used for injury‑prevention purchases such as noise‑reducing windshields for motorcycle officers.

On broader cost drivers, Eboa said property coverage is largely influenced by broader market disruption, and brokers are predicting "at least a 15%" premium increase for FY26. She also noted the city’s move to a guaranteed‑cost program (Safe Corporation) helped provide more predictable premium costs.

Council members asked for clarifications on severities versus frequency of claims, confidentiality limits on workers'‑comp case reporting and whether overtime and staffing levels were affecting trends. Eboa said some differences in FY21–FY22 were tied to COVID‑related claims, and that recent staffing improvements are expected to reduce overtime pressures in police and fire.

The council thanked Eboa and staff for the report and discussion. No formal vote or ordinance resulted from the presentation; council members directed staff to take follow‑up questions under advisement and to return with any additional material requested.